Sweden in Eurovision

Sweden on Eurovision is a bit like Brazil in a World Cup football: a favorite in power. It must be said that in the 57 European participations in the song contest, the Swedes have won six times (in 1974, 1984, 1991, 1999, 2012 and 2015) and are the second most successful of the history behind Ireland (7 wins).

20-year-old Benjamin Ingrosso won the Swedish preliminary round for the ESC 2018 with the electro lounge piece "Dance You Off". His victory at the Melodifestival consisted of both parts of the rating scheme.. The eleven jurors saw him clearly in the first place, even in the points distribution of televoting had he is ahead of Felix Sandman with "Every Single Day".

Melodifestivalen 2018 was organised by the broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) and received 2,772 entries. The contest consisted of six shows in total, four semi-finals, a second chance round and the grand final. In each of the semi-finals, the two artists with the most votes went through to the final, with the artists finishing in third and fourth place competing again in the second chance round. The top four from the second chance round then advanced to the grand final. In the final, both an international jury and the public voted for their favourite with Benjamin Ingrosso coming out on top with both, therefore, winning the contest.

Born in 1997, Benjamin Ingrosso grew up on the outskirts of Stockholm. As his not particularly Swedish-sounding surname suggests, he has Italian roots. The love story of his parents Emilio Ingrosso and Pernilla Wahlgren could not be more closely linked to the Eurovision Song Contest: the dancer and composer and the singer met in 1985 when they first appeared (out of a total of four attempts) at the "Melodifestival" is one of her background dancers. They fall in love, marry and stay together until 2002. Not only does Emilio Ingrosso produce numerous songs of his wife Pernilla, they also get three children together - one of them is Benjamin.

Benjamin Ingrosso is a household name in Sweden. He achieved notoriety in 2006 when he won the Junior version of the competition also won the Swedish equivalent of Let's Dance in 2014. He entered the Melodifestivalen in 2017, finishing fifth with the song "Good Lovin".

Benjamin Ingrosso is one of the young promises of a family that has a lot of representation in music and interpretation. In fact, his mother, actress and singer Pernilla Wahlgren , has tried on three occasions to be the Swedish chosen to go to Eurovision but has never achieved it. Now she will attend the Festival as a companion. Her 20 year old son can already boast of having a record contract, having won a dance talent show and having his own clothing line, MarQy Fashion. And if anyone asks, yes, Benjamin is a cousin of Sebastian Ingrosso , the DJ of worldwide renown.

The decision of the Swedish audience did nothing but ratify the triumph of the young singer of 20 years, who with a song composed by himself along with MAG, K Nita and Louis Schoorl, will travel to the Portuguese capital to fight for the seventh triumph of the country in the festival, thus equaling the record of victories that Ireland still has.

Odds on Eurovision Song Contest 2018: Will Sweden qualify for the final?